The Grand Re Entrance
by Medie
Summary: The way I'd wished Cordelia's return could have really gone.


Fandom: Angel   
Title: "The Grand Re-Entrance"   
Author: M. Edison   
Rating: Shockingly PG   
Feedback: Welcome at Medison@thezone.net   
Category: AU, C/A fic   
Keywords: Schmoopy romance. Cordelia/Angel, Alternate Universe,   
Disclaimers: The bunch from Angel belong to their production company, believe me,  
if they belonged to me, oh the differences...*G*   
Author's Note: This particular story is basically my little C/Aer's wish of the   
return that *could have been* rather than the one that was. No real spoilers for   
this fic, unless you count the reason for Connor's absence from the Hyperion. This  
is, obviously, an AU of Cordy's return.   
  
"The Grand Re-Entrance"   
by M.  
------  
  
Rain pelted down out of the sky, pounding into his body as if creation itself were  
trying to wipe him from its face but Angel paid it no notice. He stood on the roof   
of the Hyperion, staring out into the night, the very picture of melancholy. It was  
a picture well-drawn.  
  
Cordy...gone. Connor...lost to him.  
  
Angst was something he was intimately familiar with, a feeling he was on a first name  
basis with, but it had never been like this. Never felt like this. Not even the worst  
of it with Buffy had felt this profound, had this much of an impact.  
  
If his heart still beat, he would have been convinced it had been torn out and stomped  
on. Stomped on, set alight, and the ashes scattered on the wind. For the first time in  
what seemed like forever, he felt truly dead inside.  
  
"Angel."  
  
His lips twisted into a wry, mocking smile and he began to consider whether or not   
vampires truly could go insane and hallucinate. Hearing voices was the first step after  
all.  
  
"Oh come on, you big dope! Turn around and do the 'Omigod, Cordelia!' thing!" Cordy's   
enthusiastic words were accompanied by a firm smack on his shoulder which made Angel   
blink. In his experience, hallucinations - not even his - didn't make physical contact.  
  
He began to turn but she beat him to it, springing into his path, looking very, very   
real. Hallucinations couldn't get wet, could they? For, if she was a hallucination,   
then why was her clothing already soaked to the skin? She beamed at him, her smile only  
able to be described as being of epic proportions. "Honey, I'm home!" She exclaimed   
gleefully.  
  
An almost fearful smile played about the edges of Angel's mouth as his wary gaze met  
hers and he lifted a shaking hand toward her face. "Cordy?" He whispered, afraid to   
actually touch her, afraid she would vanish. "Am I..."  
  
"Nope." She stepped forward, deliberately bringing his hand into contact with her   
cheek. "It's me: real, in the flesh, and totally back. I kinda got the boot..." An   
impish glint appeared in her eyes and a smile of sheer unrepentance formed on her   
mouth. "You've been a bad influence on me, got all rebellious and sneaky with the   
pow...Mmph!!!"  
  
Her typically Cordelia-esque ramble cinched it for him - it was really her - and   
Angel did the one thing that had haunted his dreams for months - he pulled Cordelia  
Chase into his arms, bringing her flush against him, and kissed her as fiercely as   
he dared.  
  
Eagerly, she pressed close, her hands curling into the wet material of his coat,   
her lips meeting his with equal fervor. Their mouths clung to each other in a   
perfect mirror of their own desperate determination to never let go of each other  
again. To never again experience the separation that had seemed endless to both.  
  
Unfortunately, while Angel didn't need oxygen, Cordelia still did and finally,   
she pulled away, gasping for air. Unwilling to let her move away from him, Angel  
rested his forehead against hers. "Next time you disappear to a higher plane,   
I'm going with."  
  
"Ok." She agreed absently, her fingertips tracing along his jawline. "Angel..."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Those dreams...what I said..." She pulled back to look into his eyes. "I really  
did say that. I can't remember what it was like to not know you...and I don't   
want to. I could go to a hundred higher planes and none of them would ever hold  
any appeal to me...because none of them have you."  
  
"Yes they would." Angel vowed, touching her hair. "Anywhere you go...I go.   
Wherever you are, I am. There is no other option. None. Got it?"  
  
Cordy smiled, nodding slowly. "Got it. Now, make with the kissing again."  
  
If there was one thing he knew, it was never argue with Cordelia Chase, so Angel  
promptly did as told. He''d been waiting a near eternity to do it anyway and he   
planned on doing it a lot more, if she didn't mind that was. From the way she   
responded, pressing close and locking her hands behind his head, he had a feeling  
she didn't.   
  
Deepening the kiss, he swore he could feel his heart give a beat of pure glee.   
Cordy was home.   
  
Cordy was home.  
  
finis 


End file.
